Improvement in calendars



PATENT GFFICE.

THOMAS J. THOR?, or NAVARRE, OHIO.V

IMPROVEMENT IN CALENDARS.

Specication forming part of Letters Patent No. 156,391, dated October 27, 1874; application led September. 23, 1874.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, THOMAS J. THORP, of

Navarre, in the county of Stark and in theV State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Calendars 5 and do i hereby declare that the following is a full,

' upon the reverse side a calendar for a year,

as will be hereinafter more fully set forth.

In order to enable others skilled in the art to which my invention appertains to make and use the same, I will -now proceed to describe its construction and operation, referring to the annexed drawing, in which- Figure 1 is a view of one side of my calendar. Fig. 2 is a View of the reverse side thereof. Fig. 3 is a longitudinal section of the same through the line @o x, Fig. 1.'

A represents a circular plate or disk of any suitable diameter and thickness, and made of any material desired. The upper surface of this disk or plate is provided with a circular recess for the reception of a circular plate or disk, B, and this disk is in turn recessed to receive a central disk or plate, C, the upper surfaces of the three disks being perfectly ush or even with each other. A suitable distance from theperiphery of the center plate C, in the.upper surface of the same, are

' made two concentric circles, a b, and the annular space bordered by the innerv circle b, and the periphery of the disk is divided by radial lines into nineteen equal spaces, as shown in Fig. 1. In these spaces, between the circles a and b, the numbers 1 to 19 are engraved, stamped, or otherwise afxed in such a manner that there shall be a difference of six between any two adjoining numbers. In the corresponding spaces, between the outer circle a and the periphery of the disk C, are numbers indicating the dii'erence of days in the moons age at the beginning of each year in the cycle of nineteen years.

y The two series of figures are arranged inthe following manner:`

Golden No. E pacte. Golden No. E pacte.

Thesurfaces of the two plates A and B, beyond the edge of the central plate C, are, by radial lines, divided into a series of spaces of such size that any three of these spaces will correspond with two spaces on the plate C; or, in other words, everyother division-line `on 4the plate C will correspond with every lthird division-line on the plates B and A.

In the spaces on the plate A are the numbers of the years in the century in an arithmetical series of four, so that, commencing with l, the next will be 5, then 9, 13, 17, 2l, and so on to 97, which is the next. In the spaces on the plate B are the days of the week, marked in such order that there will be five days intervening between any two adjoining spaces, because in every space of four years omitted on the surface of the plate A is one leap-year.

Supposing that the rst year in the nineteenth century commenced on Thursday, and the calendar set accordingly, as shown in Fig. 1, the day upon which any other year in that century commences can easily be seen; for instance, the year 1873 is shown to commence on Wednesday, and any year not shown on the plate A can be found by simply adding as many days as the year is ahead of lthe next lowest one marked. The year 1875 is two ahead of the next lowest (1873) marked; therefore, add two days to Wednesday, and it will be seen that the year 1875 will commence on Friday. In like manner the day upon which any year in the century commences can easily be ascertained. The plate left of every second space on the plate C, and

only the years thus marked will be used. For instance, the year 1873 shows at once that the moon is one day old at the beginning of the year. y

For any year not marked the following is an example: Take 1875, the yearA next lowest marked is 73, the golden number of 73 is 12, and as I must add 2 to 73 to get 75, I add 2 to the golden number 12, which gives 14 as the golden number of 1875, and opposite 14 on the plate C is 23, showing that the moon on the rst day of the year 1875 will be twenty-three days old.

In the center of the plate C are the initials of the months in the year, and certain figures on each side thereof. The figures to the left` show how many days to add to find the rst day of any month when the first day of the year has been found, and the figures to the right show how many days to add to find the age of the moon on the first day of any month when its age has been found on the rst day of the year.

In place of making the plates Bl and C separate from the plate A, one single plate 'may be sed with the various letters and figures thereon, as described, because ordinarily a calendar for a single century is suicient, and even then the same'calculations may be made for any other century by a very simple rule. When this face of the calendar is made in three parts, as described, the calendar will be set on the first day of each century.

The reverse side of the plate A is also rerecessed, and in precisely the same manner are placed therein four plates or disks, D, E, G, and H, and all the plates on both sides of the main plate A are clamped together and to said main plate by means of a hollow post, d, and screw e, as shown in Fig. 3. i On the face of the plates A, D, E, and G are made radial division-line, forming twentyeight equa-l spaces, and in said spaces on the plate A are the numbers 1 to 28, as shown in Fig. 2. In the corresponding spaces on the plate D are marked the days of the week in regular rotation, and on the plate E the months of the' year are marked in the following mannerrBe; tween the spaces in which the months are marked are as many vacant spaces as there are days in the month over twenty-nine, ex-

cept between December and January, where` there is only one vacant space left. February and March are in the same space, as February generally has only twenty-eight days. These plates being set so as to show the 1st of September is on Tuesday, it tells the date of every day up to and including the 28th, and the 29th will be on the same day as the 1st, the 30th on the same day as the 2d, and the word October is lopposite the day upon which the iirst day of that month will come. On the rst of the month the plates D and E will be set.

This part of the calendar will show at all times what day the first of any month will come.

On-the plate Gr are marked the epacts ofthe moons age at the rst of the year, and this plate should be set at the rst of the year with the proper number opposite January, and at the side of each month on the plate E are numbers to denote how many days to add to the epact of the current year to find the -age of the moon on the first of any month.

The plate H is by radial lines divided into four spaces corresponding with the four quarters of the moon, the lines being marked 1 to 4. If, for instance, the first quarter of the moon commences on the 1st of September, the

second will be seen to commence on the' 9th,

`the third between the 16th and 17th, and the fourth .onl the 24th. The fourth quarter extends as far beyond the line 1 as the point mtrked 0, when the plate H must be set again.

The plates D, E, and G should be clamped together, independent of the other plates, so as to be set together at the first of the year and retain their relative position during all the changes necessary for that year.

Instead of recessed plates, as herein described, concentric rings with beveled edges may be used on the main plate A, as may be deemedl most economical and advantageous in the manufacture of the calendar.

The calendar may be made of any material desired, and of any size, small and large. It

may be made of suitable size to attach to a,l

watch-chain as a guard.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim'as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

' The combination, in a pocket-calendar, of the circular metallic plate A, recessed on both sides, the movable metal ring B, and plate C on one side of plate A, and the movable metal plates D -E H on the other side of the plate,

vthe said plates and rings being provided with 

